Highly Cited Researchers - Identifying top talent in the sciences and social sciences - Researcher Recognition - Clarivate

Page created by Kathleen White
 
CONTINUE READING
Highly Cited Researchers - Identifying top talent in the sciences and social sciences - Researcher Recognition - Clarivate
Highly Cited

                                                              2019
Researchers
Identifying top talent in the sciences and social sciences.

Researcher Recognition
Highly Cited Researchers - Identifying top talent in the sciences and social sciences - Researcher Recognition - Clarivate
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                Highly Cited Researchers are among
                                those who have demonstrated
                                significant and broad influence
                                reflected in their publication of
                                multiple papers, highly cited by
                                their peers over the course of the
                                last decade.

                                These highly cited papers rank in
                                the top 1% by citations for a chosen
                                field or fields and year in
                                Web of Science.

                                Of the world’s population of
                                scientists and social scientists,
                                the Web of Science Group’s Highly
                                Cited Researchers are one in 1,000.

     2
Highly Cited Researchers - Identifying top talent in the sciences and social sciences - Researcher Recognition - Clarivate
Overview
The list of Highly Cited Researchers 2019 from the
Web of Science Group identifies scientists and social
scientists who have demonstrated significant broad
influence, reflected through their publication of multiple
papers frequently cited by their peers during the
last decade.

Researchers are selected for their                           For the Highly Cited Researchers 2019
exceptional influence and performance                        analysis, the papers surveyed were the
in one or more of 21 fields (those used                      most recent papers available to us – those
in Essential Science Indicators,1 or ESI)                    published and cited during 2008-2018 and
or across several fields.                                    which at the end of 2018 ranked in the top
                                                             1% by citations for their ESI field and year
6,216 researchers are named Highly Cited                     (the definition of a highly cited paper).
Researchers in 2019 – 3,725 in specific
fields and 2,491 for cross-field performance.                The threshold number of highly cited
This is the second year that researchers with                papers for selection differs by field, with
cross-field impact have been identified.                     Clinical Medicine requiring the most
                                                             and Economics & Business the fewest.
The number of researchers selected in
each field is based on the square root of the                A second criterion for selection is a count
population of authors listed on the field’s                  of citations by a researcher’s peers to highly
highly cited papers. The number of those                     cited papers that ranks the individual in the
with cross-field influence is determined by                  top 1% by total citations in an ESI field for
finding those who have influence equivalent                  the period surveyed.
to those identified in the 21 fields.

1
    c larivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/essential-science-indicators/                                 3
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                There is no unique or universally
                                agreed concept of what constitutes
                                extraordinary research performance

                                To identify researchers with cross-field      There is no unique or universally agreed
                                impact, highly cited paper and citation       concept of what constitutes extraordinary
                                counts are normalized through fractional      research performance and elite status
                                counting according to the thresholds          in the sciences and social sciences.
                                required for each field (thus, each           Consequently, no quantitative indicators
                                Clinical Medicine paper has a smaller         will reveal a list that satisfies all expectations
                                unit fraction, or counts less, than one in    or requirements. Moreover, a different basis
                                Economics & Business). Citation counts        or formula for selection would generate a
                                are treated in a similar manner. If the sum   different – though likely overlapping – list
                                of the fractional publication counts and      of names. Thus, the absence of a name on
                                the sum of the fractional citation counts     our list cannot be interpreted as inferior
                                for a researcher equals 1.0 or more, the      performance or stature in comparison to
                                individual exhibits influence equivalent      those selected. To understand both the
                                to a researcher selected in one or more ESI   meaning and the inevitable limitations of
                                defined fields and is therefore selected as   our analytical approach, a careful reading
                                a Highly Cited Researcher for exceptional     of the methodology is required:
                                cross-field performance.
                                                                              recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/
                                                                              highly-cited

     4
"Highly Cited Researchers wield
 a vastly disproportionate influence
 on their fields." 2
 John N. Parker (US National Science Foundation and Arizona State University),
 Christopher Lortie (York University), and Stefano Allesina (University of Chicago)

 2
     John N. Parker, Christopher Lortie, Stefano Allesina, “Characterizing a scientific elite: The social characteristics
     of the most highly cited scientists in environmental science and ecology,” Scientometrics, 85 (1): 129-143,
     October 2010. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0234-4                                                                            5
Who would contest that in the race
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                for knowledge it is human capital
                                that is fundamental?

                                Talent – including intelligence, creativity, ambition, and
                                social competence – outpaces other capacities such as
                                access to funding and facilities, although these are typically
                                also needed for success.

                                Recognition and support of the scientific elite, both fully
                                formed and incipient, represents an important activity
                                for a nation or an institution’s plans for efficient and
                                accelerated advancement.

                                The Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list from the
                                Web of Science Group contributes to the identification
                                of that small fraction of the researcher population that
                                contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of
                                knowledge and gaining for society innovations that make the
                                world healthier, richer, more sustainable, and more secure.

     6
Citations: Pellets of peer recognition

When Eugene Garfield produced the first                     New Public Management, introduced in
Science Citation Index in 1964, he did                      universities in the United States, the United
so to make searching the literature more                    Kingdom, and Australia in the 1980s and
efficient and effective. He called his                      1990s, applied business management
creation an “association-of-ideas index.”3                  methods to academia and emphasized
And the connections he captured between                     performance indicators and benchmarks.
topics, concepts, or methods discussed                      Academic scientists and social scientists,
in indexed papers could be trusted, he                      who previously rejected evaluation by
argued, because they were based on                          outsiders and insisted on traditional
the informed judgments of researchers                       peer review, have gradually accepted
themselves, as recorded in the references                   bibliometric assessments because
they appended to their papers.                              opportunities and rewards tied to such
                                                            assessments have become institutionalized.
Thus, the network of citations linking items                Some researchers now list citation data
in Web of Science offers a cognitive                        on their CVs and websites, such as a
road map for those seeking to follow the                    total citation count or an h-index.
progression of a finding or advancement –
a map sometimes leading to unexpected
regions that can turn research in a new,
promising direction.

The raison d’être of Web of Science is
and always has been to help researchers
find the information they need to carry
out their investigations. And today
the Web of Science Group continues
the work of Garfield by providing
trusted insights and analytics to enable
researchers to accelerate discovery.

A secondary use of a citation index for
science evolved in the decade after
its introduction: analysis of research
performance. Citations, when tallied and
especially at high frequency, reveal influence
and utility (determining importance and
quality, however, requires expert
judgment). In 1972, the US National Science
Foundation included publication and
citation data in its first Science Indicators
report, which permitted comparisons of
national research activity, focus,
performance, and growth. In the 1980s,
and in Europe particularly, publication and
citation data were harvested and deployed
for analysis of the research performance of                 Eugene Garfield
universities.

3
    Eugene Garfield, “Citation indexes for science: A new dimension in documentation through association
    of ideas,” Science, 122 (3159): 108-111, July 15, 1955. DOI: 10.1126/science.122.3159.108               7
Highly Cited Researchers 2019   The practice of citing another researcher’s                    When, however, a researcher’s record
                                work and the interpretation of citation                        exhibits top-tier status quantitatively,
                                statistics has been debated for many years.4                   demonstrated by the production of
                                Some assert that they convey impact or                         papers in the top 1%, top 0.1%, or even
                                popularity; others say they function largely                   top 0.01% of a citation distribution, one
                                as rhetorical devices and collectively                         can be more certain of having positive
                                create a socially constructed reality. The                     and reliable evidence that the individual
                                late Robert K. Merton, the 20th century’s                      under review has contributed something
                                leading sociologist of science, called the                     of utility and influence. Having multiple
                                citation “a pellet of peer recognition.”5                      contributions of this type increases
                                Citations, he said, were repayments of an                      confidence in attributing substantial
                                intellectual debt to others. He emphasized                     influence to a researcher’s oeuvre.
                                that citation was an essential part of
                                normative behavior among researchers,                          Still, the application of the data (or of the
                                that it was a considered, formal, and                          designation ‘Highly Cited’) – for example
                                obligatory activity, one that included                         in the context of appointment or promotion
                                a moral imperative to cite others when                         decisions or in awarding research funds
                                appropriate. It is largely this perspective                    – demands informed interpretation.
                                that supports citation analysis to identify
                                research influence. In most fields, there is                   This perspective is consistent with two
                                a moderate positive correlation between                        of the recommendations of the Leiden
                                peer esteem and citation frequency of                          Manifesto (2015): that “quantitative
                                papers and people, shown in a variety                          evaluation should support qualitative,
                                of so-called validation studies.                               expert assessment,” and that “assessment of
                                                                                               individual researchers [should be based] on
                                Evaluating the research performance                            a qualitative judgement of their portfolio.”6
                                of individuals is the most contentious
                                application of publication and citation
                                data. Apart from being an emotionally
                                charged exercise, difficulties include                         One should never
                                finding comparable researchers or
                                research publications to enable fair                           rely on publication
                                comparisons, expecting that influence
                                and impact can be detected quickly when                        and citation data
                                it may require many years, and selecting
                                appropriate indicators, ones in alignment                      as a substitute for
                                with the agreed priorities and values of
                                a research program. A specific hazard                          reading and assessing
                                is false precision – making distinctions
                                without any meaningful differences –                           a researcher’s
                                which frequently arises in dealing with
                                small numbers so often encountered in                          publications – that is,
                                analyzing the work of an individual rather
                                than that of an institution or nation.                         for human judgment.

                                4
                                    Dag W. Aksnes, Liv Langfeldt, and Paul Wouters, “Citations, citation indicators, and research quality:
                                    An overview of basic concepts and theories,” Sage Open, 9 (1): article number 2158244019829575,
                                    February 7, 2019. DOI: 10.1177/2158244019829575
                                5
                                     obert K. Merton, “The Matthew Effect in science, II: Cumulative advantage and the symbolism of intellectual
                                    R
                                    property,” Isis, 79 (4): 606-623, December 1988. DOI: 10.1086/354848
                                6
                                     iana Hicks, Paul Wouters, Ludo Waltman, Sarah de Rijcke, and Ismael Rafols, “The Leiden Manifesto for
                                    D
     8                              research metrics,” Nature, 520 (7548), 429–431, April 23, 2015. DOI: 10.1038/520429a
Beyond questions of evaluation, Garfield                     records position them in the top strata
was fascinated by the power of citations                     of influence and impact. This year’s list
to discriminate the typical from the truly                   includes 24 Nobel laureates, including three
exceptional researcher. The power-law                        announced this year: Gregg L. Semenza
nature of the citation distribution allows                   of Johns Hopkins University (Physiology
one to rapidly focus on a small number                       or Medicine), John B. Goodenough of the
of top-end ‘events,’ both papers and                         University of Texas at Austin (Chemistry),
people. Over the years he produced many                      and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts
lists of most-cited researchers in almost                    Institute of Technology (Economics).
every field of inquiry. And he took special
interest in using citation data to forecast                  Also included in this year’s list of
Nobel laureates by identifying a group of                    Highly Cited Researchers are 57
researchers he termed ‘of Nobel class.’7                     Citation Laureates;8 individuals recognized
                                                             by the Web of Science Group, through
The Web of Science Group’s Highly Cited                      citation analysis, as ‘of Nobel class’ and
Researchers list extends Garfield’s work in                  potential Nobel Prize recipients.
recognizing investigators whose citation

    Nobel laureates identified as Highly Cited Researchers 2019

    Name                                                      Category and year

    James P. Allison                                          Physiology or Medicine 2018
    David Baltimore                                           Physiology or Medicine 1975
    Elizabeth H. Blackburn                                    Physiology or Medicine 2009
    Angus Deaton                                              Economics 2015
    Esther Duflo                                              Economics 2019
    Ben L. Feringa                                            Chemistry 2016
    Albert Fert                                               Physics 2007
    Andre K. Geim                                             Physics 2010
    John B. Goodenough                                        Chemistry 2019
    Theodor W. Hänsch                                         Physics 2005
    James J. Heckman                                          Economics 2000
    Alan J. Heeger                                            Chemistry 2000
    Brian K. Kobilka                                          Chemistry 2012
    Robert J. Lefkowitz                                       Chemistry 2012
    Edvard I. Moser                                           Physiology or Medicine 2014
    May-Britt Moser                                           Physiology or Medicine 2014
    Konstantin Novoselov                                      Physics 2010
    Gregg L. Semenza                                          Physiology or Medicine 2019
    Phillip A. Sharp                                          Physiology or Medicine 1993
    Fraser Stoddart                                           Chemistry 2016
    Thomas C. Südhof                                          Physiology or Medicine 2013
    Susumu Tonegawa                                           Physiology or Medicine 1987
    †Roger Y. Tsien                                         Physiology or Medicine 2008
    Shinya Yamanaka.                                          Physiology or Medicine 2012

7
    Eugene Garfield and Alfred Welljams-Dorof, “Of Nobel class: A citation perspective on high-impact
    research authors,” Theoretical Medicine, 13 (2): 117-135, June 1992. DOI: 10.1007/BF02163625
8
    c larivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/citation-laureates/                                         9
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                Highly Cited
                                Researchers and
                                2019 Nobel laureates
                                Esther Duflo
                                2019 Nobel laureate in Economics

                                John B. Goodenough
                                2019 Nobel laureate in Chemistry

                                Gregg L. Semenza
                                2019 Nobel laureate in Physiology
                                or Medicine

     10
Esther Duflo, shown with her research partner Abhijit Banerjee. Photo: Bryce Vickmark

             Esther Duflo
             2019 Nobel laureate in Economics

             Esther Duflo is only the second woman to                   determinants at a microlevel.
             be named a Nobel laureate in Economics.                    “In less than two decades, the empirical
             She is also at 46 the youngest to receive                  microeconomic approach pioneered
             the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic                    by Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer has
             Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,                        changed how development economists
             to give the award its precise title.                       conduct their research,” the selection
                                                                        committee stated. “The research carried
             With her fellow Nobel Prize recipients                     out with their experimental approach
             Abhijit Banerjee, also of MIT, and Michael                 has uncovered a large body of new
             Kremer of Harvard University, the trio were                substantive results and keeps improving
             cited “for their experimental approach                     our ability to mitigate global poverty.”9
             to alleviating global poverty.” Together
             and separately, Banerjee, Duflo, and                       Duflo is one of 17 researchers who have
             Kremer introduced field experiments                        been named Highly Cited Researchers
             including randomized controlled trials                     in Economics each year since 2014,
             to study economic conditions and their                     and among these the only woman.

             9
                 Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,
                 “Understanding development and poverty alleviation,” October 14, 2019.
                 nobelprize.org/uploads/2019/10/advanced-economicsciencesprize2019.pdf                              11
John B. Goodenough
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                             2019 Nobel laureate in Chemistry

                                             John B. Goodenough, at 97, is the oldest                      committee for this year’s Chemistry
                                             person ever to be named a Nobel laureate.                     Prize noted that, “lithium-ion batteries
                                             Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham                            have revolutionized our lives since they
                                             of Binghamton University, New York, and                       first entered the market in 1991. They
                                             Akira Yoshino of Asahi Kasei Corporation                      have laid the foundation of a wireless,
                                             and Meijo University, in Japan, received                      fossil fuel-free society, and are of the
                                             the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the                         greatest benefit to humankind.”10
                                             development of lithium-ion batteries.”
                                                                                                           Goodenough was selected as a Highly
                                             Plainly, this prize recognizes an invention                   Cited Researcher in 2001, the first year
                                             that, in the words of Alfred Nobel’s will,                    we issued a Highly Cited Researchers
                                             qualifies as an “important chemical                           list. The methodology used at that time
                                             discovery or improvement.” It is an                           identified individuals based on total
                                             award similar in type to the recent Nobel                     citations to their publications since
                                             Prizes in Physics for the invention of                        1981. Goodenough then appeared in
                                             blue light-emitting diodes in 2014 and                        the field of Materials Science whereas
                                             for the development of fibers for optical                     this year he is selected in Chemistry.
                                             communication in 2009. The selection

                                Photo: Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

                                             10
                                                   oyal Swedish Academy of Sciences, “The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019,” (Press release), October 9, 2019.
                                                  R
     12                                           nobelprize.org/uploads/2019/10/press-chemistry-2019-2.pdf
Photo: Johns Hopkins Medicine

            Gregg L. Semenza
            2019 Nobel laureate in Physiology
            or Medicine
            The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology                            Gregg L. Semenza is one of this year’s
            or Medicine was awarded jointly to                            Highly Cited Researchers in the cross-
            William G. Kaelin Jr. of Harvard University,                  field category, as he was last year when
            Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe of Oxford University                   we introduced this category to recognize
            and the Francis Crick Institute, and                          scientists who have contributed highly
            Gregg L. Semenza of Johns Hopkins                             cited papers in several different fields.
            University “for their discoveries of how cells                That he qualifies in the cross-field
            sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”                      category fits the nature of his research.
                                                                          “Th[e] ability of animal cells to sense
            Each of the three has published papers                        different concentrations of oxygen
            on this subject cited more than 3,000                         and, as a result, re-wire their gene
            times; only about 2,300 out of some 47                        expression patterns, is essential for the
            million papers (articles and proceedings                      survival of virtually all animals[…]. These
            papers only) indexed in Web of Science                        molecular pathways pervade numerous
            since 1970 have been cited at this level.                     physiological processes, ranging from
            Together Kaelin, Ratcliffe, and Semenza                       organ development and metabolic
            were honored with the 2010 Canada                             homeostasis to tissue regeneration and
            Gairdner International Award, the 2014                        immunity, and play important roles in
            Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, and the                   many diseases, including cancer.”!1
            2016 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical
            Research, all so-called precursor prizes for
            the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

            11
                 Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, “Scientific background: How cells sense and adapt to oxygen
                 availability,” October 7, 2019. nobelprize.org/uploads/2019/10/advanced-medicineprize2019.pdf           13
Highly Cited
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                Researchers 2019
                                Highly Cited Researchers from the Web of                  Essential Science Indicators fields
                                Science Group is an annual list recognizing
                                influential researchers in the sciences and               •   Agricultural Sciences
                                social sciences from around the world.                    •   Biology & Biochemistry
                                                                                          •   Chemistry
                                The 2019 list contains about 6,200                        •   Clinical Medicine
                                Highly Cited Researchers, some                            •   Computer Science
                                3,700 in 21 fields of the sciences and                    •   Economics & Business
                                social sciences and about 2,500 Highly                    •   Engineering
                                Cited Researchers identified as having                    •   Environment/Ecology
                                exceptional performance across several                    •   Geosciences
                                fields.* The list focuses on contemporary                 •   Immunology
                                research achievement: only highly cited                   •   Materials Science
                                papers in science and social sciences                     •   Mathematics
                                journals indexed in Web of Science Core                   •   Microbiology
                                Collection during the 11-year period 2008-                •   Molecular Biology & Genetics
                                2018 were surveyed. Highly cited papers                   •   Neuroscience & Behavior
                                are defined as those that rank in the top 1%              •   Pharmacology & Toxicology
                                by citations for field and publication year.              •   Physics
                                                                                          •   Plant & Animal Sciences
                                Using our InCites analytics tool, the                     •   Psychiatry/Psychology
                                data are derived from the Essential                       •   Social Sciences
                                Science Indicators (ESI) database, which                  •   Space Science
                                reveals emerging science trends as well
                                as influential individuals, institutions,                 Researchers who, within an ESI-defined field,
                                papers, journals and countries. The                       publish papers that are then highly cited by
                                fields are also those employed in ESI                     their peers are judged to be influential, so
                                – 21 broad fields defined by sets of                      the production of multiple top 1% papers
                                journals and exceptionally, in the case                   is interpreted as a mark of exceptional
                                of multidisciplinary journals such as                     influence. Relatively young and early career
                                Nature and Science, by a paper-by-paper                   researchers are more likely to emerge in
                                assignment to a field based on an analysis                such an analysis than in one dependent on
                                of the cited references in the papers.                    total citations over many years.
                                This percentile-based selection method
                                removes the citation advantage of older
                                papers relative to recently published
                                ones, since papers are weighed against
                                others in the same annual cohort.

                                * The number of unique Highly Cited Researchers is 6,008, including 3,517 in the ESI fields and 2,491 in
                                the cross-field category. The analysis reported here is based on appearances of Highly Cited Researchers in
     14                         specific fields, and a small number are selected in more than one ESI field.
To be able to recognize early and mid-           In addition, and as a concession to the
career as well as senior researchers is one      somewhat arbitrary cut-off, any researcher
of the goals in generating Highly Cited          with one fewer highly cited paper than the
Researchers lists. The determination of          threshold number is also admitted to the list
how many researchers to include in the list      if total peer citations to his or her highly cited
for each field is based on the population        papers rank that individual in the top 50% by
of each field, as represented by the             total citations of those at the threshold level
number of disambiguated author names             or higher. The justification for this adjustment
on all highly cited papers in that field,        is that it seems to work well in identifying
2008-2018. The ESI fields vary greatly in        influential researchers, in the judgment of
size, with Clinical Medicine being the           the Web of Science Group’s citation analysts.
largest in terms of highly cited papers
and Space Science the smallest; likewise,        Of course, there are many highly
Clinical Medicine is largest in terms of         accomplished and influential researchers
researchers whereas Mathematics is               who are not recognized by the method
smallest. The square root of the number          described above and whose names do
of authors in each field indicated how           not appear in the 2019 list. This outcome
many individuals should be selected.             would hold no matter what specific method
                                                 were chosen for selection. Each measure
One of two criteria for selection is that        or set of indicators, whether total citations,
the researcher must have enough peer             h-index, relative citation impact, mean
citations to his or her highly cited papers      percentile score, etc., accentuates different
to rank among all authors in the top 1% by       types of performance and achievement.
total citations in the ESI field in which that   Here we confront what many expect
person is considered. Authors of highly          from such lists but what is unobtainable:
cited papers who meet this criterion in          that there is some optimal or ultimate
a field are ranked by number of such             method of measuring performance.
papers, and the threshold for inclusion
is determined, as mentioned, using the           The only reasonable approach to interpreting
square root of the population represented        a list of top researchers such as ours
by the number of disambiguated authors           is to fully understand the method
names on the highly cited papers in a field.     behind the data and results, and
All who published highly cited papers at the     why the method is used. With that
threshold level are admitted to the list, even   knowledge, in the end, the results may
if the final list then exceeds the number        be judged by readers as relevant or
given by the square root calculation.            irrelevant to their needs or interests.

                                                                                                      15
Researchers with cross-field impact
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                                                              3,725
                                In 2018, for the first time, Highly Cited
                                Researchers introduced a new cross-
                                field category to identify researchers
                                with substantial influence across several
                                fields during the data census period.
                                As mentioned above, 2,491 researchers         Highly Cited Researchers
                                with cross-field impact now join some         in specific fields
                                3,725 who have been selected in one
                                or more of 21 broad ESI fields. The

                                                                              2,491
                                addition of cross-field selectees last
                                year yielded a substantial increase from
                                those chosen in the 21 ESI fields only, but
                                the current 6,216 still represent a very
                                small fraction of all scientists and social
                                scientists actively publishing today.
                                                                              Highly Cited Researchers for
                                Since introducing Highly Cited Researchers    cross-field performance
                                in 2014, the Web of Science Group has
                                received the suggestion from many that
                                limiting the methodology for selection
                                to only those with a required number
                                of highly cited papers in a single field,
                                as defined in ESI, discriminates against
                                researchers who publish highly cited
                                papers in several fields but not enough
                                in any one field to be chosen.

                                We responded to this concern last year.
                                In line with recommendations on best
                                practice, we wanted to ensure that any
                                metrics or analyses that we produce are
                                structured and presented in a responsible
                                manner. Extending the identification
                                of Highly Cited Researchers to cross-
                                disciplinary work fulfills that goal.

     16
Field       Field     Field     Field
                                   Number of    Citation
ESI field   First name Last name                            citation     paper     paper    citation
                                     HCPs       to HCPs
                                                           threshold   threshold   score     score
Field 3     Joseph      Savant         1          98         1857         22       0.045     0.053
Field 6     Joseph      Savant         7         2937        946          8        0.875     3.105
Field 14    Joseph      Savant         3          663        676          6        0.500     0.981
Field 16    Joseph      Savant         4         3397        2223         16       0.250     1.528
Cross-field Joseph      Savant                                                     1.670     5.667

The challenge for us was finding a method          in the top 1% by citations for a field.
that took account of the different threshold       Again, citations in different fields were
number of highly cited papers in each              fractionated in a similar manner to the
field so that those contributing papers            treatment of papers. In the example
in several fields could be compared in             above, Professor Savant earned more
an equal manner with those selected                than five times the number of citations
in one or more ESI fields. The solution            needed for selection as an influential
chosen was to fractionally count the credit        cross-field researcher. Both criteria had
for each highly cited paper such that              to be met for selection as a cross-field
a paper in a field with a high threshold           Highly Cited Researcher, just as required
number of papers was weighted less than            for selection in one or more ESI fields.
a paper in a field with a lower threshold
number of papers. The example at the               Traditional field definitions are useful
top of this page illustrates the method.           in some contexts but less so in others.
                                                   Today, an immunologist may identify
The fictional researcher Joseph Savant             himself as a biochemist and a molecular
published 15 highly cited papers in four           biologist. Another researcher may be
ESI fields. Seven papers in Field 6, with          hard pressed to say whether she is a
a threshold number of eight for selection,         chemist, materials scientist, or engineer.
earned Savant a credit of 0.875 (or 7/8ths).       Breaking through the artificial walls of
Three papers in Field 14, with a threshold         conventional disciplinary categories helps
number of six for selection, were worth 0.5.       to keep our Highly Cited Researcher
The sum of the fractional paper counts in          list contemporary and relevant.
each field yielded a total cross-field paper
score of 1.67. A score of 1 or more indicates      Moreover, as frontier areas of research
that the individual achieved equivalent            are frequently interdisciplinary, it is even
impact to a researcher chosen in a specific        more important to identify scientists and
ESI field.                                         social scientists working and contributing
                                                   substantially at the cross-field leading edge.
The second criterion for selection as
a Highly Cited Researcher is enough
citations from other researchers to rank

                                                                                                     17
Highly Cited Researchers 2019
                                "Is there a formula for managing discovery
                                 making? First, and most important, are the
                                 people involved." 12
                                 The late Nobel laureate Ahmed H. Zewail,
                                 California Institute of Technology

                                 The 6,216 Highly Cited Researchers of 2019 are unevenly distributed by
                                 field, in accordance with the size of each. The table below summarizes the
                                 number of researchers in each ESI field and in the cross-field category.

                                  Highly Cited Researchers by ESI field and cross-field category

                                                                                                                   Number of
                                  ESI field
                                                                                                            Highly Cited Researchers

                                  Agricultural Sciences                                                                 146
                                  Biology & Biochemistry                                                                212
                                  Chemistry                                                                             237
                                  Clinical Medicine                                                                     436
                                  Computer Science                                                                      107
                                  Economics & Business                                                                  113
                                  Engineering                                                                           192
                                  Environment/Ecology                                                                   169
                                  Geosciences                                                                           153
                                  Immunology                                                                            135
                                  Materials Science                                                                     195
                                  Mathematics                                                                           89
                                  Microbiology                                                                          116
                                  Molecular Biology & Genetics                                                          238
                                  Neuroscience & Behavior                                                               198
                                  Pharmacology/Toxicology                                                               140
                                  Physics                                                                               194
                                  Plant & Animal Sciences                                                               196
                                  Psychiatry/Psychology                                                                 146
                                  Social Sciences, General                                                              204
                                  Space Science                                                                         109
                                  Total                                                                                3725
                                  Cross-field                                                                          2491
                                  Grand total                                                                          6216

                                 12
                                       hmed Zewail, “Curiouser and curiouser: Managing discovery making,” Nature, 468 (7322): 347,
                                      A
     18                               November 18, 2010. DOI: 10.1038/468347a
The following analysis is based on primary           following nations appear in the cross-field
researcher affiliations, as specified by the         category: Israel (55%), Austria (51%), and
Highly Cited Researchers themselves.                 Norway (50%). Singapore, Sweden, and
                                                     Mainland China are also notable for strong
The United States is the institutional home          representation in the cross-field category,
for 2,737 of the Highly Cited Researchers            with 49%, 48%, and 46%, respectively.
2019, which amounts to 44.0% of the
group. By contrast, of all papers indexed            As noted, Mainland China has increased
in Web of Science for 2008-2018 the                  its share of Highly Cited Researchers
percentage with a U.S. author or co-author           significantly, from 483 or 7.9% in 2018
was 25.8%. Mainland China is second this             (covering the period 2006-2016) to 636 or
year, with 636 Highly Cited Researchers,             10.2% this year (for the period 2008-2018).
or 10.2%. The United Kingdom, with 516               In 2014, 113 Highly Cited Researchers
researchers or 8.3%, falls to third from             were from Mainland China in the 21 ESI
second in the last survey, trading places            categories then surveyed, which amounted
with Mainland China. Next, all with 100 or           to 3.5% of the total of 3,216 Highly Cited
more Highly Cited Researchers, we list               Researchers that year. This year, 347 Highly
Germany (327), Australia (271), Canada               Cited Researchers from Mainland China
(183), the Netherlands (164), France (156),          are represented in the 21 ESI categories,
Switzerland (155), and Spain (116).                  or 9.3% of the group, nearly a three-fold
                                                     increase since 2014. The number of Highly
The Highly Cited Researchers data                    Cited Researchers in the 21 ESI categories
represent nearly 60 nations, but 84.6% of all        has grown somewhat over six years to
Highly Cited Researchers are from these              3,725, but that is a 16% increase only.
10 nations and 72.2% from the first five, a
remarkable concentration of top talent.              Of course, as Mainland China increases its
                                                     share of Highly Cited Researchers other
While each nation pursues its own portfolio          nations decline. Since last year, the United
of interests, often reflected in numbers             Kingdom has lost .7%, Germany .6%, and
of Highly Cited Researchers in different             the Netherlands .5% of their shares of the
fields, some nations appear to follow less           world’s Highly Cited Researchers. Other
traditional, more transdisciplinary lines            nations in the top 10 managed increases:
of investigation, at least if their scientific       The United States advanced .6%, Australia
elite is representative. Across the group,           .3%, Switzerland .3%, and Canada .2%.
there are three Highly Cited Researchers
in the 21 ESI fields for two in the cross-field      Nothing compares, however, to the
category. We might expect, therefore, to             advance of Mainland China, from
see this 3:2 ratio for each country. Not so.         7.9% last year to 10.2% this year,
Among nations with 20 or more Highly                 a sizeable increase of 2.3%.
Cited Researchers, half or more from the

Highly Cited Researchers by country or region

                                                       Number of                   Percent of
Rank         Nation
                                                Highly Cited Researchers    Highly Cited Researchers

1            United States                               2737                         44.0
2            China Mainland                               636                         10.2
3            United Kingdom                               516                          8.3
4            Germany                                      327                          5.3
5            Australia                                    271                          4.4
6            Canada                                       183                          2.9
7            The Netherlands                              164                          2.6
8            France                                       156                          2.5
9            Switzerland                                  155                          2.5
10           Spain                                        116                          1.9

                                                                                                       19
Highly Cited Researchers 2019   The university with the greatest number of Highly Cited Researchers is
                                once again Harvard, with 203, an increase from 182 last year.

                                Highly Cited Researchers by institution

                                                                          Number                                              Number
                                Institutions            Nation                     Institutions              Nation
                                                                           HCRs                                                HCRs

                                Harvard Univ            United States      203     Univ Washington           United States      35
                                                                                   Icahn School of
                                Stanford Univ           United States      103     Medicine at Mount         United States      34
                                                                                   Sinai
                                Chinese Acad
                                                        China Mainland     101     Univ Melbourne            Australia          34
                                Sciences
                                                                                   Massachusetts
                                Max Planck Society      Germany             73                             United States        33
                                                                                   General Hosp
                                                                                   NIH National Institute
                                Broad Institute         United States       60     of Allergy & Infectious United States        33
                                                                                   Diseases (NIAID)
                                Univ California
                                                        United States       58     Univ British Columbia Canada                 33
                                Berkeley
                                Washington Univ St
                                                        United States       55     Univ Michigan             United States      33
                                Louis
                                                                                   King’s College
                                Duke Univ               United States       54                               United Kingdom     32
                                                                                   London
                                Massachusetts Inst of                              Dana-Farber Cancer
                                                        United States       54                               United States      31
                                Technology (MIT)                                   Institute
                                Memorial Sloan
                                Kettering Cancer        United States       54     Northwestern Univ         United States      31
                                Center
                                                                                   European Molecular
                                Univ California San
                                                        United States       54     Biology Laboratory        Germany            30
                                Diego
                                                                                   (EMBL)
                                Univ California Los                                NIH National Cancer
                                                        United States       52                               United States      30
                                Angeles                                            Institute (NCI)
                                Yale Univ               United States       51     UNSW Sydney               Australia          30
                                                                                   Nanyang
                                Univ Cambridge          United Kingdom      50                               Singapore          29
                                                                                   Technological Univ
                                                                                   Swiss Institute of
                                Columbia Univ           United States       47                               Switzerland        29
                                                                                   Bioinformatics
                                Johns Hopkins Univ      United States       45     Univ Queensland           Australia          29
                                                                                   Univ Texas MD
                                Univ Oxford             United Kingdom      44     Anderson Cancer           United States      29
                                                                                   Center
                                                                                   Wellcome Trust
                                Cornell Univ            United States       42                               United Kingdom     29
                                                                                   Sanger Center
                                                                                   California Institute of
                                Tsinghua Univ           China, Mainland     42                               United States      27
                                                                                   Technology
                                                                                   Imperial College
                                Univ College London     United Kingdom      40                               United Kingdom     27
                                                                                   London
                                Univ Pennsylvania       United States       39     Univ Minnesota            United States      27
                                King Abdulaziz Univ     Saudi Arabia        38     Univ Toronto              Canada             27
                                Univ North Carolina                                National Univ
                                                        United States       37                               Singapore          26
                                Chapel Hill                                        Singapore
                                Univ Paris Saclay       France              36     Univ Chicago              United States      26
                                Univ California San                                Ecole Polytechnique
                                                        United States       36                          Switzerland             25
                                Francisco                                          Federale de Lausanne
                                                                                   Univ Electronic
                                Mayo Clinic             United States       35     Science &            China, Mainland         24
                                                                                   Technology China
                                                                                   University Science &
                                Princeton Univ          United States       35                          China, Mainland         24
                                                                                   Technology China

     20
Among governmental and other types                       Among the 3,725 researchers named
of research organizations, the US                        as Highly Cited in the 21 ESI fields,
National Institutes of Health (including                 186, or 5%, appear in two ESI fields and
all individual institutes) ranks first with              only 11 (listed below), or .3%, appear in
145 Highly Cited Researchers, followed                   three fields. (Cross-field researchers, of
by the Chinese Academy of Sciences                       which there are 2,491, qualify in only one
(101), the Max Planck Society (76), the                  category, or else they would have been
Broad Institute (60), and Memorial                       chosen in one or more ESI fields.).
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (54).

Highly Cited Researchers recognized across three ESI fields

Name                             Primary Affiliation                    Fields

                                                                        Computer Science, Engineering,
Jinde Cao                        Southeast Univ, Mainland China
                                                                        Mathematics
                                                                        Chemistry, Engineering, Materials
Yi Cui                           Stanford Univ, United States
                                                                        Science
Hongjie Dai                      Stanford Univ, United States           Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics
                                                                        Agricultural Sciences, Environment/
Noah Fierer                      Univ Colorado, United States
                                                                        Ecology, Microbiology
                                 Swiss Fed Inst Technol Lausanne,
Michael Graetzel                                                        Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics
                                 Switzerland
                                                                          Chemistry, Engineering, Environment/
Vinod Kumar Gupta                King Abdulaziz Univ, Saudi Arabia
                                                                          Ecology
                                                                          Biology & Biochemistry, Environment/
Rob Knight                       Univ California San Diego, United States
                                                                          Ecology, Microbiology
                                                                          Biology & Biochemistry, Materials
Robert S. Langer                 MIT, United States
                                                                          Sciences, Pharmacology/Toxicology
Kian Ping, Loh                   National Univ Singapore, Singapore     Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics
                                                                        Computer Science, Engineering,
Ju H. Park                       Yeungnam Univ, South Korea
                                                                        Mathematics
                                                                        Biology & Biochemistry, Molecular
Jun Wang                         iCarbonX, Mainland China               Biology & Genetics, Plant & Animal
                                                                        Sciences

It is important to understand the difference             patterns of each field. This procedure
between selection as a Highly Cited                      has and will continue to help maintain the
Researcher in the cross-field category and               purpose of our selection process and the
selection in more than one ESI field. Both               integrity of our data: to identify researchers
classes of individuals have demonstrated                 with broad community influence and not
significant research influence across                    those whose citation profile is narrow
fields. Cross-field researchers, however,                and substantially self-generated.
qualify for selection based on the sum
of their highly cited papers and citations               The foregoing is but a ‘tasting’ of the riches
that meets a normalized threshold                        of the Web of Science Group’s Highly
equivalent to selection in any one                       Cited Researchers data. In early 2020,
field whereas those named in multiple                    there will be a more detailed analysis of the
fields qualify outright in each field.                   2019 data, with attention paid to national
                                                         and regional activity and performance.
Finally, for the first time this year, a filter was
applied to remove researchers whose level
of self-citation exceeded, by far, the typical

                                                                                                                21
Highly Cited Researchers 2019

                                To see the full list of Highly Cited
                                Researchers and read more about
                                the selection methodology,
                                please visit recognition.
                                webofsciencegroup.com/highly-
                                cited

     22
Who we are
About the Institute for                          EndNote, Kopernio, Publons, ScholarOne
Scientific Information (ISI)                     and the Institute for Scientific Information
                                                 (ISI). The ‘university’ of the Web of Science
                                                 Group, ISI maintains the knowledge
The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)   corpus upon which the index and related
builds on the work of Dr. Eugene Garfield        information and analytical content and
– the original founder and a pioneer of          services are built; it disseminates that
information science. Named after the             knowledge externally through events,
company he founded – the forerunner              conferences and publications and it carries
of the Web of Science Group – ISI was            out research to sustain, extend and improve
re-established in 2018 and serves as a           the knowledge base. For more information,
home for analytic expertise, guided by           please visit webofsciencegroup.com.
his legacy and adapted to respond to
technological advancements.

Our global team of industry-recognized           About our Researcher
experts focus on the development of              Recognition Programs
existing and new bibliometric and analytical
approaches, whilst fostering collaborations
with partners and academic colleagues            Using our comprehensive, high-quality
across the global research community.            data from across the Web of Science
                                                 Group, measuring both quantitative
                                                 and qualitative results, we recognize
                                                 the people behind the ground-breaking
About the Web of Science                         research efforts produced each year
Group                                            through four recognition programs:

                                                 • Eugene Garfield Award for
The Web of Science Group, a Clarivate              Innovation in Citation Analysis
Analytics company, organizes the world’s         • Highly Cited Researchers
research information to enable academia,         • Global Peer Review Awards,
corporations, publishers and governments           powered by Publons
to accelerate the pace of research. It is        • Citation Laureates
powered by Web of Science – the world’s
largest publisher-neutral citation index and     Learn more at: clarivate.com/
research intelligence platform. Its many         webofsciencegroup/solutions/
well-known brands also include Converis,         researcher-recognition/

                                                                                                 23
WS370932093 / 07

                   Contact our experts today:

                   +1 215 386 0100 (U.S.)
                   +44 (0) 20 7433 4000 (Europe)
                   webofsciencegroup.com

                   © 2019 Clarivate Analytics. Web of Science Group and its logo, as well as all other trademarks
                   used herein are trademarks of their respective owners and used under license.
You can also read